I'll Watch The Moon
by libowie
Summary: Toph wants to know why her friends always look to the sky when they need to talk about their problems.


_Hey guys! First off, I'd like to thank you for reading my story. I'm new at this whole fan fiction thing, but I like it a lot. I usually write Kataang, but I'm a huge Sokka fan, so I thought I might try a Tokka fic. I am also a fan of Sokka/Yue, so I thought I might throw some of that in here too. I know that this is a very commonly used idea, but I just had to try it. Forgive me, but I had to slip in a tiny bit of Kataang in here, just because I love it so. Please review the story, so I know how to improve. Also, if you wouldn't mind giving me some ideas for stories that would help me out too. Well, enjoy!_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender** _

**I'll Watch The Moon**

The night was quiet and clear. A cool breeze floated through, slightly ruffling the leaves, but other than that everything was still. Toph imagined the night was quite beautiful, if she had the ability to see it.

Her blindness never bothered the small girl, because after all, she could 'see' through her earth bending. It was only if her feet were touching the ground, and colors still had no meaning to her, but it was much better than not being able to see anything. Over the years she had gotten pretty good at it too. If she focused on a specific point, like a person, she could see nearly every little detail about them. Using her bending Toph could feel the vibrations of a person and trace them upward. She knew what they were wearing, how their hair was fixed, and if she concentrated hard enough, she could even tell what a person's expression by what facial muscles they tightened.

As long as her two feet were touching the floor she could feel anything else on the ground.

Yup. On the ground.

That was the bad part of traveling with an air bending monk and his flying bison. Most of the time "ground" wasn't even in Aang's vocabulary. Luckily for Toph, Aang wasn't only an air bender, but he was also the Avatar, so he had to learn earth bending.

At the moment she, Aang, Sokka, and Katara had set up camp in a small valley. It was the perfect location for Aang's training (there was a small stream for water bending, and the area was covered in large boulders for his earth training) and it kept them hidden from any enemies that were still tracking them down.

Because of the rocky appearance Toph could easily see all around her – Katara was cleaning up the remains of dinner, Aang was once again _watching_ Katara clean up, and Sokka was resting near the edge of camp with his head tilted up toward the sky.

'_He's watching the moon again…' _Toph thought angrily to herself. That was another problem about being blind. The sky. Anything that was in the sky normally didn't exist to her. She couldn't feel it, therefore it wasn't there. The only time she even acknowledged the sky was when the four were flying on Appa.

But Sokka, Sokka always watched the sky… watched the moon. It bothered Toph greatly that Sokka always stared at the sky. She could tell that he wasn't just praying to the moon spirit either. Sometimes at night she could hear him talk to the moon. When he thought that everyone was asleep he would actually speak to it! Address it as a "she" and have one-sided conversations with it like he was talking to an old friend.

And it wasn't just Sokka. Aang and Katara watched it, though not as often, she would catch them throwing glances at it every once in a while.

'_What's so great about a stupid moon anyway? It's just a ball in the sky! You can't feel it, so what makes it so special?!'_

Toph was getting sick of all of this. She felt like her friends were keeping something from her. She wanted to know why her crush seemed to care more about the moon than he did about her. Finally she decided it was time to do something about all of this, to speak up.

Toph jumped up from her seat by the fire. She proceeded to glare at Sokka, though her milky eyes glued to his sitting form did nothing for her. Realizing that she needed to fully gather her friend's attention she angrily stomped her foot on the ground, sending a flood of mini-earthquakes through the camp. Fury was taking over her usually calm mind, and before she could stop herself she blurted out what had been swimming in her mind all night.

"I don't get it! Why are you guys always looking at the stupid moon, why does it matter?"

She felt Sokka flinch as she said the word "stupid" and instantly regretted it.

The last thing she wanted to do was push Sokka farther away than he already was. She cared for him so much, and wanted him to trust her with his secrets more than anything. Starting over she tried a kinder approach.

"I mean, I know that it's not just a water tribe thing, because Aang does it too, and it can't be a water bender thing because Sokka is the one who looks at it the most… so, what is it?"

The three friends just sat there dumbfounded. What were they supposed to say? I mean Toph just asked them about Yue, in one of the rudest, most awkward ways possible. Katara could tell that Sokka wasn't ready to talk about it yet, and Aang wouldn't know what to say, so it was up to her.

"Toph, have you ever met someone, and instantly liked them a lot?"

Toph thought back to the first time she had met her friends. Although they were kind of strange, she had known they brought with them adventure, and her destiny, which may have been why she was so wary to trust them at first. She nodded at Katara, silently urging her to go on.

"Well, try and imagine if that person was taken away from you, and given to something else."

As she listened intently to what Katara was saying, Toph couldn't help but notice the water bender's wavering voice. As she imagined her friends being taken away, _Sokka _being taken away she felt tears coming to her own eyes. As she finally made the connection to what Katara was saying and her question she spoke out in a feeble voice, trying not to let her friends see her at her weak point.

"Given away to something… like… the moon?"

Toph was a strong girl, and she almost never cried. Everyone thought she was weak because of her blindness, and she never wanted to show any kind of emotional weakness with something as useless as tears. The only thing she hated more than crying in front of a bunch of idiotic rich people was crying in front of her friends, the only people whose opinions mattered.

She felt Katara nod slowly and noted that the tears were now falling freely from Sokka's face. Aang was, for once, completely silent as he grasped Katara's hand. Turning her body so she was facing Sokka, Toph finally allowed her friend (and secret crush) to see her own tears. Now that Sokka had shared his secret with her, she felt she owed it to him, and to herself to reveal her own secret. She wasn't as weak as her parents thought her to be, but she wasn't always strong either. She knew if Sokka was taken from her that she would watch him, and even have pointless, one- sided conversations with him, and he had a right to know that.

She stumbled a bit, but ended up in her preferred destination – Sokka's arms. She tightened her grip around his neck as her salty tears mixed with his.

"I guess… I would watch over my friend too."


End file.
